Mira is our girl frontrunner. For many of the reasons you mentioned, plus people generally like it (I've polled it quite a bit). Short, simple, still somewhat unusual, and I agree that familiarity with Mira Sorveno will help people pronounce it correctly. I know some still think "My-ra" but in my mind that would be spelled Myra and Mira should obviously be MEER-a. Perhaps my favorite thing about Mira is that it is another name for Omicron Ceti, which is a very neat binary star system that varies in brightness throughout the year. A "Twinkle Twinkle LittleStar" themed nursery seems very appropriate And going stargazing for Mira with Mira would be fantastic.

LoveMiriam with the nickname Mira. I don't think you would have any pronunciation problems at all with Mira. It's a pretty well known name and I've never heard anyone pronounce it any other way except meer-ah. You could also use Miranda instead as another way to get to Mira if your husband won't go for Miriam. I also like NorahJune so really, I don't think you can go wrong either way.

Out of curiosity, what is the death association with Mara? I've never heard any, only that the name is another form of Mary.

@pansy Appellation Mountain names seems to hit most the negative associations: Baby Name of the Day: Mara - Appellation Mountain Norse name for a goblin sent to torment sleepers. Mara was a demon in a Buddhist myth. In Slavic culture, she is goddess of death. Hindu goddess of death.

We very occasionally use Miri or Mimi for our Miriam, but we mostly use her full name (she's still a toddler so this might change). I thought that I would use Mira more often, but it hasn't felt natural for us.

You could also use Mia as a nn although it is fairly popular on its own.

We have gotten quite a few compliments on our DD's name. The only negative comments where "oh that's a more traditional name" which doesn't bother me since we wanted something that was recognizable, but not too popular.

I've actually met a few little girls named Miriam, Myriam and Mariam (as well as several gown women), but they were all either of French or Middle Eastern origin.